Basarnas sets Priority Sector To Search Remains Of QZ8501 Aircraft

Jakarta, Jan 2 (Antara) - The National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) has outlined a new priority area to search for remains of the ill-fated AirAsia QZ8501 flight, which crashed into waters around Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, last December 28. "The priority area for the search of the remains of the plane will be about 1,575 nautical square miles of waters, although we will also look in other areas," Chief of Basarnas F.H. Bambang Soelistyo stated here on Friday. About 17 aircraft and 29 ships from various government bodies such as the Basarnas, Air Force, and National Police are involved in the search operation to find the victims of the crashed plane and the remains of the jet, particularly its black box. A ship from the Navy, a Geo Survey ship from the Association of Indonesian Sea Surveyor, and a RSS Persistence ship from Singapore would be tasked with searching for the remains of the AirAsia QZ8501 aircraft under the sea. "They have underwater search devices. They will be in charge of retrieving the plane`s black box," Soelistyo noted. Earlier, Soelistyo said the objects that the search crews had, so far, discovered from the waters of Karimata Strait near Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan Province, were still bodies and luggage of the victims and aircraft`s debris. The ill-fated Airbus carrying 162 people, including seven crew members, lost contact with Jakarta`s air traffic control tower on December 28 in its flight from Surabaya, East Java, to Singapore. Since the day of its disappearance, Indonesia has launched a massive search and rescue operation, which has also been joined by several foreign countries. As of Friday morning, ten bodies of the victims have been discovered and retrieved. Eight of them have been sent to Surabaya from Pangkalan Bun to be identified by the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) team members.